By Marv Knox
If you’ve been wondering how to directly help immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, Pastor Carlos Navarro can tell you how to lend a hand. Actually, how to lend a backpack.
Navarro and Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville operate an immigrant relief shelter (and Fellowship Southwest provided the funds to build a new facility) in Brownsville, Texas, just across the Rio Grande from Matamoros, Mexico.
Immigrants come to Navarro after customs officials release them to travel across the U.S. to stay with sponsors while they complete the asylum process.
The church and Navarro make sure the immigrants feel the love of Christ—in the form of a nutritious meal, fresh clothes, often a shower, and a goodie bag of food and supplies before they head to the local bus station.
The Salvation Army just provided a shipment of enough supplies to help 2,000 immigrants, Navarro reported. He plans to distribute them through the respite center.
Asked how friends can help, Navarro replied: “Send backpacks.” The immigrants need something to carry their new clothes and supplies.
To donate new backpacks, ship them to: Pastor Carlos Navarro, Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville, 925 W. St. Charles St., Brownsville, TX 78520
Or to provide funds for Fellowship Southwest’s Immigrant Relief Fund, which supports Navarro and a network of pastors who serve refugees along the U.S.-Mexico border, click here.
Marv Knox is coordinator of Fellowship Southwest, a network encompassing Arizona, New Mexico, Northern Mexico, Oklahoma, Southern California and Texas.
CBFblog 
Pastor Navarro, I am a member of Compass Class at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas Tx. We are a CBF church and a leader in making sure diversity is part of our mission statement.
I coordinate our class mission projects. We send quarterly monetary gifts to Marv Knox for ministry on the border, and five people from our class made mission trips (I think to your church) before the pandemic.
I saw your need for backpacks in the newsletter and told our class Sunday during our Zoom lesson on February 14. (We have been meeting that way for almost one year.) Everyone was so pleased to know of a specific mission project we could help with. especially in this time of not traveling.
About 50 people, ages 50-85, have been part of this class for many years. We were once all active in mission trips, projects, etc., but now our gift is to share from the “nest eggs” we gathered over many years. Most of us have celebrated anniversaries for 50-63 years, and most of us have been in church all our lives.
My husband and I both speak Spanish and took lots of mission trips. He even went to Brazil once. It is difficult to realize we don’t have that same energy any more, but we can pray and give and pray some more. We are so hopeful that the new democratic administration can undo some of the damage done to the border ministry.
Thank you, your family, and your congregation for being there on the mission field and for helping people who seek a better life for themselves and their children. Our hearts ache for them. Hearing the good news of a life as a Christian will give them strength as you minister to them.
We are sending backpacks to you through Amazon or other agencies, doing it individually since we can’t gather to pack them. So, you should receive quite a few packages over the next month. Please let me know by email or let Marv Knox know and he can call me to tell me the progress our class is making. Sometimes people our age need a few reminders — LOL.
God blesses you, I already know that, and we thank you for being there.
Vy Malcik
Thank you so much, nice to see such a post to write such a beautiful post, and when I saw this post of yours, I was very happy to see its design and when I read it, I love to appreciate it. Because those who write such a beautiful post must get credit for it